UK AeroPress Champion Crowned, And We’ve Got...

Any competition where just about everyone has a beer in hand should be an enjoyable one to watch. This year, 41 competitors from across the United Kingdom entered the fourth annual UK AeroPress Championships, co-hosted by Square Mile Coffee Roasters and Workshop Coffee Co. and held at Workshop’s new Holborn space in London. The event proved to be an exciting, thoroughly merry affair, with Gabrielle Von Koss of Square Mile emerging victorious out of a heavily competitive field, securing her spot to the rapidly approaching World AeroPress Championships in Rimini.

It’s not every day you see so many layers of the London coffee scene get together. From the originals faces of the (now historical) Ultimate Barista Fighter League to the young guns of the ever-growing Taylor St family, the competition/party felt something like the good old days, a throwback to those years of yore (let’s say 2009) when London’s coffee community still felt small. Of course, the popularity and size of the London coffee scene have exploded since then, as has the popularity of the AeroPress brew method, increasingly the go-to darling for by-the-cup brewing in the city’s cafes.

While the competitors and spectators enjoyed Kernel Brewery Table Beer, the judges slurped their way through round after round. Ross Brown of Browns of Brockley handled emcee duties, while tunes were provided by DJ Wet Process (AKA Bill from Taste of Bitter Love, RIP). With the number of competitors from the ad hoc Work Mile Square Shop Coffee Roasting Confab numbering more than a quarter of the pack, the finals became their affair.